World Briefs: US$1b won in two lotteries in a week

US$1b won in two lotteries in a week

WASHINGTON • Some lucky person in New Hampshire has won US$560 million (S$746 million) in a Powerball lottery, officials said on Sunday, just two days after someone in Florida won a cool US$450 million, helping push the weekend's total past US$1 billion, apparently for the first time in US history.

The identity of the winner was not immediately revealed. The US$560 million prize, the sixth-largest Powerball jackpot ever, came 11/2 years after another New Hampshire player cashed in a US$487 million Powerball ticket.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE


BBC China editor quits over pay gap

LONDON • BBC journalist Carrie Gracie announced yesterday that she had quit her post as China editor in protest against an "indefensible pay gap" at the British broadcaster, winning support from dozens of colleagues.

Ms Gracie said she resigned last week over a "crisis of trust" which has engulfed the BBC since it was forced last year to reveal the salaries of its highest-paid employees. The disclosures showed "an indefensible pay gap between men and women doing equal work", Ms Gracie said in a blog post

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE


Iran primary schools can't teach English

DUBAI • Iran has banned the teaching of English in primary schools, a senior education official said, after Islamic leaders warned that early learning of the language opened the way to a Western "cultural invasion".

"Teaching English in government and non-government primary schools in the official curriculum is against laws and regulations," the head of the state-run High Education Council, Mr Mehdi Navid-Adham, told state television last Saturday.

REUTERS


Jordan says 17 held in foiled ISIS plot

AMMAN • Jordan said yesterday that it had foiled a plot by Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) that included plans for a series of attacks last November on security installations, shopping malls and moderate religious figures, state media reported.

State news agency Petra said the country's intelligence department had arrested 17 members of the cell and confiscated weapons and explosives that the militant group had planned to use in several operations.

REUTERS

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A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Straits Times on January 09, 2018, with the headline World Briefs: US$1b won in two lotteries in a week. Subscribe